I feel great empathy for any who have walked away from faith.

Faith communities have failed so miserably that those who find the exit ramp oft appear the wisest folk around.

I do, however, worry about our souls; souls that hunger for the Divine, the transcendent, the mystical. And we have been led to believe that the material, the mundane, the temporal, the earthly, can satisfy our souls. If that were true, Americans would be the most content, satisfied, fulfilled people on earth.

We are not.

And so we give up on our soul's hunger. We become spiritual anorexics, whistling away our hunger pangs as we stroll through Target, praying our next purchase will fill our emptiness.

The great French philosopher and mystic, Simone Weil (1909-1943) spoke profound truth when she wrote:

"The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is any bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuade itself that it is not hungry."

Oh, how we persuade ourselves we are not hungry. We deny ourselves bread. We exist in a state of spiritually malnourishment, shrug and think this is just how it is now.

Our soul hunger is nothing to be ashamed of. Our appetite is meant to be sated -- with love, beauty, awe, mystery, connection and presence. Dare I say, with God?

Where are you finding nourishing bread these days?

What is feeding your soul?

Don't believe the lie.

Feel your soul's hunger.

And feed thyself.

Photo by Jonathan Pielmayer on Unsplash